This year, 2024, Glenaeon marks 30 years of our campus at Castlecrag; however, our campus’ history stretches back to 1950.

Despite Glenaeon’s Castlecrag campus opening in 1994, we were not the first school there. In 1950, the Castlecrag Infants School opened and was a key part of the Castlecrag community, educating children from Kindergarten to Year 2 until its unfortunate closure in 1989. Designed by the famous American architect Walter Burley Griffin, architect of Australia’s national capital city Canberra, alongside his wife Marion Mahony Griffin, Castlecrag is community that has a history of strong community ties. Therefore, it is no surprise that when the New South Wales State Government announced that the Castlecrag Infants School would be closed and demolished due to low enrolment numbers, the Castlecrag community protested and rejected the state government’s announcement. Between 1989 and 1994, the community at Castlecrag held demonstrations, Union green bans and community picket lines, protesting against the government’s plan to sell the site for development. With the prospect of reopening the infants school dire, in 1990 the state government agreed to the Castlecrag community’s request that the site be retained for community use, if not used for a school, rather than sold.

Despite continuing community protests and some backlash, in 1994, Glenaeon acquired the school site from the State Government, opening our now Castlecrag Campus in June of the same year.

Over our 30-year history at Castlecrag, we have not only welcomed our younger students to our school and Steiner education, but we also continue to open our campus grounds to the Castlecrag community to use over the weekend and during the holidays. The Castlecrag campus also hosts Glenaeon’s annual Family Fair – a key event in the community’s calendar – while the Marion Mahony Griffin Hall is regularly used for community groups, particularly the local Castlecrag Progress Association.

Our Castlecrag Campus would also not be what it is today without the help of our school community, parents, and teachers. A special thank you goes to Glenaeon’s first teachers at Castlecrag – Peggy Day, Christine O’Neil, Andrew Hill, and John Rowan – as well as our school gardener Lindsay Sherrott who has worked tirelessly to develop and maintain our beautiful school garden. Glenaeon’s late Council Chair, Tom Hartigan, must also be thanked for his efforts to acquire the Castlecrag campus.

Will Bryant
Glenaeon School Archivist

Do you have any material, physical or digital, (photographs, memorabilia, yearbooks) you wish to donate to the school? Get in touch with Will via email: archives@glenaeon.nsw.edu.au